Elaine May

Actresses/Filmmakers

Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She first gained fame in the 1950s for her improvisational comedy routines with Mike Nichols, as the duo Nichols and May, before transitioning her career, regularly breaking the mold as a writer and director of several critically acclaimed films. She has received numerous awards, including a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award. She was honored with the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013, and an Honorary Academy Award in 2022.

She acted in her feature directorial debut, A New Leaf (1971), with Walter Matthau, Jack Weston, George Rose, James Coco, and Doris Roberts. Her other directing efforts include The Heartbreak Kid (1972), with Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, Jeannie Berlin (her daughter), Audra Lindley, Eddie Albert, and Doris Roberts; Mikey and Nicky (1976), with John Cassavetes, Peter Falk, Ned Beatty, Carol Grace, Rosee Arrick, William Hickey, Sanford Meisner, Joyce Van Patten, and M. Emmett Walsh; and Ishtar (1987), with Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Isabelle Adjani, Grodin, Weston, Carol Kane, Aharon Ipalé, and Fred Melamed.

She wrote or co-wrote on such films as Heaven Can Wait (1978), with Beatty (who co-directed with Buck Henry), Julie Christie, James Mason, Grodin, Dyan Cannon, Vincent Gardenia, and Jack Warden; The Birdcage (1996), with Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Hackman, Diane Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria, and Christine Baranski; and Primary Colors (1998), with John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Maura Tierney, Larry Hagman, and Adrian Lester – the latter two directed by Nichols.

She acted in notable films such as Carl Reiner’s Enter Laughing (1967), with Reni Santoni, Jose Ferrer, Shelley Winters, Jack Gilford, Janet Margolin, David Opatoshu, Michael J. Pollard, Don Rickles, and Richard Deacon; Clive Donner’s Luv (1967), with Jack Lemmon, Falk, and Nina Wayne; Herbert Ross’s California Suite (1978), with Alan Alda, Michael Caine, Bill Cosby, Jane Fonda, Matthau, Richard Pryor, and Maggie Smith; In the Spirit (1990), with Marlo Thomas, Berlin, Falk, Olympia Dukakis, and Melanie Griffith; Small Time Crooks (2000), with Woody Allen (who also directed), Tony Darrow, Hugh Grant, George Grizzard, Jon Lovitz, Michael Rapaport, Elaine Stritch, and Tracey Ullman; and Peter Hedges’s The Same Storm (2021), with Sandra Oh, Mary-Louise Parker, Moses Ingram, Noma Dumezweni, Raúl Castillo, Rosemarie DeWitt, Ron Livingston, Alison Pill, John Gallagher Jr., Daphne Rubin-Vega, Joshua Leonard, Jin Ha, Judith Light, Ato Blankson-Wood, Cory Michael Smith, Rhenzy Feliz, Camila Perez, K. Todd Freeman, Danny Burstein, Joel de la Fuente, Raza Jaffrey, Brittany Bradford and David Zaldivar.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • Enter Laughing (1967) – directed by Carl Reiner
  • Luv (1967) – directed by Clive Donner
  • The Graduate (1967) – directed by Mike Nichols – uncredited actress
  • Bach to Bach (1967) – directed by Paul Leaf – also writer – short
  • A New Leaf (1971) – also director, writer
  • Such Good Friends (1971) – directed by Otto Preminger – writer (credited as Esther Dale)
  • The Heartbreak Kid (1972) – director only
  • Mikey and Nicky (1976) – director, writer, uncredited voice
  • Heaven Can Wait (1978) – directed by Warren Beatty & Buck Henry – co-writer
  • California Suite (1978) – directed by Herbert Ross
  • Reds (1981) – directed by Warren Beatty – uncredited co-writer
  • Tootsie (1982) – directed by Sydney Pollack – uncredited co-writer
  • Labyrinth (1986)** – directed by Jim Henson – uncredited co-writer
  • Ishtar (1987) – director, writer only
  • In the Spirit (1990) – directed by Sandra Seacat
  • Wolf (1994) – directed by Mike Nichols – uncredited voice
  • Dangerous Minds (1995) – directed by John N. Smith – uncredited co-writer
  • The Birdcage (1996) – directed by Mike Nichols – writer
  • Primary Colors (1998) – directed by Mike Nichols – writer
  • Small Time Crooks (2000) – directed by Woody Allen
  • A Crisis in Six Scenes (2016) – directed by Woody Allen – miniseries
  • The Same Storm (2021) – directed by Peter Hedges